Australia: Quoteboard

"I am really happy to win the P-WRC category in Australia, especially after losing twenty seconds on Friday and having to fight back. It's been a great rally and I've really enjoyed it. I felt very confident coming here after winning the Junior World Rally title in Finland, and that confidence gave me the speed I needed in Australia to win."

Richard Mason [Subaru Impreza WRX STI]: [P-WRC runner-up]

"Second is a pretty good result for us, especially as the only person in front is a world champion! I've really enjoyed competing in the P-WRC and I'll be going back to Rally New Zealand next year, you can count on that. I'd also like to try and come across to Europe and do some new rallies too."

Cody Crocker [Subaru Impreza WRX STI]: [P-WRC – third overall]

"This has been a dream come true. Our target this year was to compete on Rally Australia and we're really wrapped with the result. Doing the P-WRC is a goal of mine and I will definitely be back next year – doing some rallies, but hopefully the whole championship."

"It was a very tough rally for us and full of problems. I tried my best on Friday and Saturday but I just couldn't keep the rhythm of the guys in front. Then Toshi caught us yesterday evening and after the first stage on Day 3 I knew that I couldn't catch him. In my head I was already thinking what would happen after this rally, but then two kilometres before the end of the last stage I saw Toshi stopped by the side of the road. Now we are provisional champions [subject to the outcome of an appeal lodged by Barwa Rally Team against Nasser Al-Attiyah's exclusion from the results of the Acropolis Rally of Greece] and we have just to wait for the result of the appeal and see what happens."

Khalid Al Qassimi [BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT]:

"I am of course disappointed not to have finished within the points, but for me it was about more than just the rally. Australia is a key market to my main backer, the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, and I happy to be able to visit both the East Coast and Sydney to help spread awareness of Abu Dhabi as a tourist destination."

"Of course it is disappointing to withdraw now. I lost an afternoon on the new Australian surfaces, but we will continue to compete tomorrow. I will do my best to recover from this early setback."

Team principals:

Olivier Quesnel [Citroen Racing - director]:

"It is good [that it was so close]. It's disappointing that we still had to use tactics though. I think if we didn't have to do anything yesterday it could have been better [for the sport]. But today was a big fight too and it was quite good to see Seb win again. Also it was good to see Dani coming up and Ogier coming up. For Spain [the next event] we are not as confident as you could imagine [despite our record on tarmac], so that means that we are not confident at all for GB. We are doing our job and we hope it will go quite well, but we are not confident at all."

Malcolm Wilson [BP Ford Abu Dhabi WRT - team director]:

"Three drivers started the final day split by just 0.1sec, and that ensured the outcome was kept alive right until the final stage. There was a lot of pressure on Mikko and he paid the price of being first in the start order, and enduring the worst of the conditions, for two of the three days. That was a crucial factor and under those circumstances second was a great result."

Gerard Quinn [Ford motorsport chief]:

"This was one of the most exciting rallies the championship has witnessed for some time. Five drivers were in the mix for victory initially, and any one of three could have won today. That excitement is transferred to the drivers' championship. Mikko holds a single point lead and it looks as if the outcome could go down the wire at the final round in Britain next month. Before that we journey to Spain and we have an expanded test scheduled there before the rally to be fully prepared for the challenges of the asphalt."

Start
the conversation - Add your comment

Although the administrators and moderators of this website will attempt to keep all objectionable comments off these pages, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the poster, and neither Crash Media Group nor Crash.Net will be held responsible for the content of any message. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. If you find a message objectionable, please contact us and inform us of the problem or use the [report] function next to the offending post. Any message that does not conform with the policy of this service can be edited or removed with immediate effect.